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Sections of Faramount Station
The Sections of Faramount Station are unique geographic and social areas in Faramount Station, similar to urban neighborhoods. Faramount station is unique in that it is subdivided on a vertical basis, unlike most RW-class stations, which are zoned horizontally. Union officials sought through this policy to avoid the congregation of poor residents towards the bottom of the wheel and wealthier residents towards the top of the wheel. The contracting company that built the station, the TTO, thus divided Faramount station between levels 5 and 15 into sixteen sections, and auctioned off a long-term lease for each section. The TTO also created several larger sections to be directly administered by the station. The TTO only basically developed each section, leaving a great deal of design discretion to the lessor of each section. Vast differences exist between sections on the same level as a result, not to mention between different levels. It is often difficult to travel horizontally across section boundaries. Most analysts have considered the vertical division to have failed at bridging economic inequality, as some developers intentionally priced out lower-wage residents, while other developers constructed substandard housing targeted towards the poor. The Sections of Faramount Station are unique from the Sectors of Faramount Station. Faramount Station is broadly divided into six sectors, one for each portion of the wheel lying between two consecutive spokes. Sector A is the area rotation direction from the abandoned spoke, and the other sectors are numbered B through F continuing rotation direction along the wheel. Though important during the station's construction, sectors have little meaning on Faramount Station today. The Mall The Mall (formally the Promenade) is a shopping mall built around a four-level, open, 20-meter-wide central passageway that runs through every sector except D. It is widely considered the station's main street. Located at the very top of the wheel, the central passageway of the Mall features full-ceiling skylights, and most of the commercial establishment lining each side of this passageway have wall-to-wall exterior windows. The Mall offers stunning views of the space around Faramount Station as such, and its beautiful architecture reflects upon its having been largely constructed before SPX abandoned the station. Interconnecting walkways connect businesses above the first level to the rest of the Mall, which features numerous elevators, escalators, and stairways. Nearly every commercial establishment is located on the Mall including both service-based businesses and offices. What's more, the spoke passenger elevators disembark onto the Mall, which is often the only publicly accessible route to cross between the station's vertical sections. The main passageway of the Mall divides in two to go around each spoke with only small merchants having stands in these divided passages. Station operations and administrative offices occupy the top four levels of Sector D, on the fourth floor, the main passageway of the mall continues through these offices, allowing an individual to walk the entire wheel through the Mall. Many businesses, wealth individuals, and government agencies use neighborhood electric vehicles and segways to more quickly travel through the Mall as all other vehicles are banned. A tram line runs through the Mall, but the tram ceased operation in 2017. The Mall is a diverse place economically, featuring both high-end and low-end businesses. Generally, the nicest portion of the Mall is that Sectors A and F, between the two passenger spokes. The Mall gets increasingly less wealthy the further one travels from this space. Indeed, a flea market occupies a large portion of the Mall in Sector C. Pricing for storefront on the Mall varies as a result, though it is high enough to make it mostly unfathomable to put a residence there. Every major section of the station is accessible from the Mall, either via elevators or stairwells that open onto the Mall. Downtown The Downtown is a mixed use residential-commercial area occupying the below-promenade portion of the wheel located between the two spokes carrying passenger elevators. A single corporation developed this area, aiming successfully to build the station's central business district and high-end residential district. The Downtown is divided vertically into a number of subsections, which resemble buildings in internal design, as each subsection occupies the entirety of the 55 below-promenade floors within its vertical shaft. Each subsection is usually cutoff from those around it, featuring its own banks of elevators and stairwells for access. Both elevators and stairwells are plentiful in this well-lit, well-maintained area. Most commercial offices are located in the Downtown with several subsections catering specifically to this market. The local offices of the three mining companies that employ most Faramanians are located here, as are the consulates of the Kalen Federation and the Govindan Empire. Most successful local businesses are based in this area including the station's two banks. The Downtown also hosts the station's command center, governor's office, council chamber, health facilities, police station, fire station, and other administrative apparatuses. Much of the station's upper class and upper middle class work in the Downtown. The vast majority of upper class and upper middle class Faramanians also live in the Downtown, which hosts a number of high-end apartment and condo complexes. The smallest residential units in this area are approximately 100 square meters in area with larger units ranging as large as 1000 square meters in area. Every apartment has windows to space, and generally, access to residential areas is limited to residents and guests. The most recent estimates put the Downtown's population at approximately 7,000. Operations Operations is a mixed-use commercial-industrial area occupying the bottom fifteen levels of the fourth of the wheel located between the two nonoperational spokes. The station's fusion reactor, bioregenerative life support systems, and other basic networks are located in Operations. Only station employees can access this section, which is principally divided into three subsections. The entire section is windowless, making it a depressing place to work. Luckily, most of the well-educated professionals that oversee the station's systems do so from the command center, leaving only low-end employees to toil in this poorly-lit area. Two elevators and several stairwells connect the Promenade to Operations; neither the elevators nor the stairwells are easily accessible on any floor between the Promenade and Operations. The Dark subsection occupies the top four levels of Operations. This is an unused area, originally set aside to be part of the Forest, but ultimately left uncompleted. This section is supposed to be closed off, though a significant squatter population has come to reside here. The station government mostly ignores this circumstance, and has reinforced the seal-off of the subsection to ensure that those living within it cannot access the Forest, Reactor, or Swamp. The Forest subsection occupies the four levels of Operations below the Dark. The Forest is in essence an air recycling plant, a massive, wide-open space filled with aeroponic genetically modified plants that are used to keep the station's air breathable. By design, these flora have no nutritional value, and instead are focused entirely on producing oxygen. Grow lights line the walls and ceilings of the subsection, allowing for the most efficient support of life on the station possible. Yet due to low funding, nearly half of this section is unused and closed off. The Reactor subsection occupies the five levels of Operations below the Forest. As the name suggests, the Reactor subsection contains the fusion reactor that powers the station, along with its companion fission reactor. These two power systems take up most of these five levels with the remaining space largely present only for maintenance purposes. The Swamp subsection occupies the lowest two levels of Operations. The Swamp is a wastewater treatment plant, filled with massive water tanks. A number of these tanks contain the genetically modified algae that is the basis of the system of sewage treatment, sewage sludge treatment, and water reclamation. Wastewater is turned into two products by the Swamp: potable water (provided to the station's inhabitants and stored in some other tanks in this section) and compost (sold to the station's farmers). The Topside The Topside is a mostly windowless industrial and agricultural area spanning all levels between the Promenade and Operations. The Topside is noteworthy for the large cargo elevators that run through it, located near each cargo spoke. A limited number of elevators and staircases are also spread across the section. There are two principal subsections of the Topside: the Factory and the Farm. The Factory occupies the top thirty levels of the Topside. This industrial area contains the light manufactories that transform the minerals mined on and around Faramount, and then refined in the hub, into mostly consumer products. Several heavier manufactories exist on the hub, constructing more versatile industrial goods. Yet the hub is very limited in size compared to the hubs of mining subclass RW-class stations, as Faramount was originally conceived of as a way station that would have very limited industrial needs. Faramount Station is the only RW-class station with real industry located on its wheel. The Farm'' occupies the ten levels of the Topside below the Factory. This area is set aside entirely for agriculture. Contrary to what its name suggests, the Farm does not contain actual farmland (and no livestock), but rather features hundreds of hydroponic and aeroponic plant growing spaces that feature extensive systems of grow lights. Nearly all food consumed on the station is produced on the Farm, excepting meat, which must be imported. The Clock (WIP) A lower middle class to working class area, occupying the station counterclockwise from the downtown. Need to decide how to subdivide this further. This is where most of the human population will live. The ''Clock is a residential-commercial area occupying the top twelve levels of the station running clockwise from the promenade to the first cargo spoke. The Clock is more like the Downtown than the Promenade, featuring single levels, no skylights, and two long hallways that divide the section into three long portions, though the hallways are interconnected at points. Constructed after the repurposing of the station, the Clock is much less tourist-oriented, instead designed to act as a commercial center for station inhabitants. Yet like the station itself, it has shifted in purpose, becoming a mostly residential area whose businesses largely target only its lower middle-class residents. A number of elevators, stairwells, and escalators are spread throughout the clock,section, also known as Hometown, is a lower middle-class and working-class residential and commercial area comprising the above-farm floors located clockwise from the Promenade and Downtown and separating those sections from the Topside. This somewhat well-maintained section has a number of well-maintained stairways, but only a few working passenger elevators, making vertical transit difficult. Few public connections exist between the Clock and the Downtown and Topside. As a result, residential prices are higher in the upper levels of the section, which are home to most of the station's middle-class. The lower levels of the section house the station's human working-class and Kalen middle-class with better-off individuals, when unable to choose a higher level, choosing one of the few window-adorned apartments. A number of lower-end businesses are spread throughout the Clock. The Counter (WIP) A working-class to poverty-stricken neighborhood, occupying the station counter-clockwise from the downtown. Need to decide how to subdivide this further. This is where most of the kalen population lives, along with the worse-off humans. Substantial sections of this will be outright abandoned/undeveloped. This is probably a section in which you'll have the lower floors being worse off. The Counter section, also known as Kalentown, is a lower middle-class and working-class residential and commercial area comprising the above-farm floors located counter-clockwise from the Promenade and Downtown and separating those sections from the Topside. This poorly-maintained section has just one operating elevator, and only a few maintained public staircases. No public connections exist between the Counter and any other section below the second level. A large flea market occupies most of the top two levels of the Counter, but there are numerous abandoned storefronts and homes. The Kalen working-class population almost exclusively inhabits this section, though some levels are little more than half-finished housing blocks housing the station's poor. Several of the lowest levels of the Counter are not even actively heated, though temperatures still remain at high enough levels for habitation. Few windows adorn this section.